‘Suit yourself, but if you send the bucket I’ll put one in,’ Sprocket said.
‘Why would I do that?’ Wally spat.
‘Because I reckon we’ve been out here quite a while now and I’m not sure if you know this but the Flying Doctors are on their way,’ Sprocket said. ‘You don’t want to be here then.’
Wally’s hands balled into fists and he pulled the pin to lower the bucket.
Sprocket put three small rocks with excellent quality opals into the container and tugged on the rope, signalling to pull it back up.
When Wally saw the light glinting on the find he was mesmerised.
‘How much more is there?’ the man demanded.
‘Enough to make you the richest bloke round these parts and then some,’ Sprocket declared. ‘Take a look for yourself.’
Wally had no desire to climb down that shaft, but he was desperate to see. He called to Col and Muz.
‘If anyone tries to escape, you’re gonna cop it, okay,’ Wally said as he directed Col and Muz to lower the ladder. The pair were to pull it out again when he reached the bottom.
Seconds later, once Wally had climbed into the mine and the ladder had been retracted, there was a loud fracas down below.
‘Where is everyone?’ the man demanded. He’d expected to see his prisoners as well as any treasure Sprocket had uncovered.
‘I’m a magician,’ Sprocket said, shining the torch on the seam, the light causing the rock to sparkle. ‘I made them all disappear.’
Wally frowned, completely confused until he caught sight of the seam and was enthralled – which gave Sprocket the opportunity to begin his second climb of the day. His arms and legs were shaking, but he soon reached the top.
‘Sprocket!’ Wally called, suddenly realising he was alone. ‘Where are you, McGinty?’ He barrelled up and down the shaft, wondering if there was an exit he’d missed.
The children and Ralph emerged from their hiding spot.
‘Well done, Mr Sprocket!’ Alice-Miranda ran to give him a hug. There were congratulations all round until Millie realised that Col and Muz had made a getaway.
‘Don’t worry,’ Hayden said. ‘They won’t be getting far.’
Alice-Miranda grinned and wondered what he’d done. That matter apparently sorted, she charged over to the ute to check on Dan.
‘How is he?’ she asked Molly, who was kneeling beside him in the back of the tray. Alice-Miranda clambered up next to her.
‘He’ll be fine. He shouldn’t have been here,’ Molly balled her fists. ‘Not after what he’s done.’
Dan reached for the woman’s hand, but she pulled it away.
‘I think there’s more to it, Molly,’ Alice-Miranda said. The old woman looked at her quizzically.
‘There was nothing to come back for,’ Dan whispered.
‘What about your son?’ the woman said. ‘Left to be raised by your brother, a man with a heart of stone.’
‘No,’ Dan shook his head. ‘I swear, the doctor said they’d both died. I was heartbroken. I didn’t want to be here,’ he said, reaching for Molly again.
This time she didn’t turn away – her mind awash with thoughts. If he was telling the truth, the injustice was almost too much to bear.
Alice-Miranda looked at the man and smiled. Sometimes life was so unfair, but now the family could be reunited.
‘Come on, you lot, we need to get this silly old fella to the house,’ Molly said, turning away from Dan and shaking her head.
‘Col, Muz, send that ladder back down!’ Wally screamed from inside the mine, but no one was listening to him.
‘Do you hear that?’ Larry said. In the distance was the whumping sound of helicopter rotors.
Hayden ran to find his backpack and pulled out the flare gun, quickly shooting the rocket into the sky.
Minutes later Barnaby set the chopper down beside the steam shovel and he and Hugh ran to embrace their children.
Sergeant Ted arrived in a second chopper soon after and the men were hurriedly regaled with the story of Wally and his revenge and everything the children had learned about Col and Muz.
‘They won’t get far though – not with a cup of water in the diesel tank,’ Hayden said with a grin.
Barnaby nodded. ‘Well done, mate.’
Larry let Rusty and Blue Dog out of the cage on the back of Wally’s ute. The dogs raced around, enjoying their freedom.
Some time later, a convoy of police vehicles arrived to round up the water thieves and take care of Wally. Two constables quickly extracted the man from the mine and handcuffed him, shoving him into the back of the car for the long drive to Coober Pedy.
‘You need to secure that shaft,’ one of the young police officers said with a smile. ‘Wouldn’t want anyone else hearing about it.’
‘So I believe,’ Barnaby said.
‘Those other two,’ Hugh said. ‘They helped you kids?’
‘Until Wally got hold of them. They told us they’d had a fight at the Kulgera Roadhouse but when Wally arrived he didn’t even mention it. Something was off for sure,’ Larry said. ‘Alice-Miranda and I saw a toolbox from Saxby Downs in the back of their ute. Millie’s got pictures. We think they’ve been messing with our bores.’
‘Great work, kids,’ Barnaby said.
‘It makes sense why they didn’t want anyone to know they’d found Matilda,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘They might be foolish and greedy, but I don’t think they’re mean.’
Barnaby nodded. ‘They were probably only doing their boss’s bidding.’
‘We’ll take Dan back with us to Coober Pedy in the chopper,’ Sergeant Ted said. ‘RFDS is still too far away.’
Barnaby and Hugh walked around to the back of Ralph and Molly’s ute, where the old man was lying.
‘So you’re the legendary Taipan Dan,’ Barnaby said. ‘Good to meet you. Though I do have a few questions.’
The man blinked, still trying to take everything in. ‘You’ve got your mother’s eyes,’ he said, a lone tear streaming down his cheek.
Barnaby thought that a strange thing to say, given his mother was Norwegian and he’d always thought her eyes were blue. His own were chocolate brown.
He shook the thought off. ‘Come on, we’ll get you to hospital,’ Barnaby said. Ted and Hugh helped him lift Dan into the second helicopter.
And in that moment Alice-Miranda knew exactly what she had to do. She just had to find the right moment.
By the time the family returned to the homestead it was after dark. Barnaby had taken Molly and Sprocket and gone ahead in the chopper, but the children insisted on riding their bikes and Hugh drove Dan’s ute back while Ralph drove his own.
Now they were all seated around the kitchen table filling up on Molly’s delicious cottage pie with vegetables, which Sprocket had helped her prepare. Junie was lying on top of Rusty in the corner after having demanded half a bowl of fresh mince, which Sprocket had duly provided. Blue Dog was sitting on the other side of the kitchen – you could almost see her shaking her head. Cam was going to pick her up tomorrow.
‘So what’s going to happen with the mine, Dad?’ Larry asked her father.
Barnaby hadn’t given it much thought. ‘We’re farmers, honey, not miners. But maybe when Dan is well again I’ll see if he wants to keep at it – though I’ll be interested to know how he knew about it in the first place.’
‘He must have had half of that map, and the riddle too,’ Hayden said. ‘Did he work here when he was young?’
‘Maybe he stole it,’ Jacinta said.
Alice-Miranda looked across at Molly, who lowered her gaze.
Sprocket grinned. ‘I’ll help him. We could split the profits. Fifty-fifty.’
Everyone frowned at the man.
‘Okay, sixty-forty then.’ He revised his figure to great guffaws of laughter.
‘Do you need a lift home tomorrow, Sprocket?’ Molly asked.
Ralph looked at her. ‘We weren’t planning on a trip to town, we
re we?’
‘We have to replace all that food Wally stole and I thought I’d look in on Dan at the hospital.’
Alice-Miranda noticed Molly’s eyes welling up again. The woman turned away and brushed at the tears.
‘I think we’ll be fixing bores for another couple of days,’ Barnaby said, ‘but we might start the mustering – or at least you kids can, if you’re up to it.’
There was a rousing chorus of yeses, and even Jacinta agreed. Ralph had heard from Buddy that the pilot would be home tomorrow, which made Barnaby extremely happy. No more flying for him – though he’d surprised himself these past few days.
When dinner was finished, the family and friends spread out across the house to have showers, watch television or head to bed.
Alice-Miranda was walking back from the bathroom in her pyjamas when she saw the light on in Barnaby’s study.
She turned down the hall and stood in the doorway.
‘Oh, hello sweetheart,’ the man said, glancing up from behind the desk. ‘Just catching up on some paperwork. Been a big week.’
The girl nodded. ‘Uncle Barnaby, you know when I was looking for the other half of that map . . .’
‘I still can’t believe you actually found it.’ He shook his head. ‘One of these days I’ll have to give the place a proper clean out – never know what you might come across.’
‘Actually, I found something else too, and I think you should see it,’ the child said, and moved the library ladder around so she could scale to the top and pull out the small dusty tome. ‘Perhaps you’ve read it before?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Barnaby said. He’d once been caught playing on the ladder by his father, and had received such a telling off that he hadn’t entered the room again until the old man died.
‘I didn’t mean to pry. It’s just that it had me hooked and it wasn’t until the end that I realised the full implications, and it’s certainly not fair for me to know and you not to,’ the girl said.
Molly walked down the hallway and poked her head inside the door. ‘Finished the cleaning up, Barnaby. I’ll be off home,’ she said, then spotted the book in Alice-Miranda’s hand.
‘What’s that?’ she asked.
Alice-Miranda passed it to Barnaby. ‘Maybe you should stay and read it too, Molly,’ the child said. ‘Though I don’t think it will be as much of a surprise to you.’
Molly’s lips trembled and tears pricked her eyes.
‘What are you talking about, Alice-Miranda?’ Barnaby said.
‘All families have their secrets. But sometimes I think they turn out to be really good ones,’ the girl replied. She rushed forward and gave the man a hug, then hugged Molly on the way out.
‘What’s she talking about, Molly?’ Barnaby asked. ‘What do you know?’
The woman took Barnaby’s hand. ‘It’s about time,’ she said.
He took a deep breath and opened the book, Molly by his side.
A short while later, Barnaby reached his revelation and turned to the woman who had been his second mother. ‘You knew?’
‘Some of it,’ she said. ‘I always thought Evan would tell you, but then when he didn’t I wasn’t sure what to do, so I said nothing. I’m so sorry.’
Barnaby turned, hugging Molly tightly. She hugged him right back – same as she’d always done. Strangely, he wasn’t sad. There was something comforting in the knowledge that his mother hadn’t abandoned him and his father wasn’t the man he’d thought he was. They kept reading to the end, and by the last page Barnaby knew for sure. Life would never be the same again, but there was a very good chance it would be even better.
Barnaby would never know why the doctor had lied to his father that night. The government laws of the day said the baby would be sent to a children’s home, but Molly had tracked the newborn Barnaby down and brought him home to Hope Springs. She was angry that Chester had abandoned his son and was prepared to raise the boy as her own until Charles Lewis, the child’s grandfather, took one look at the lad and demanded that his younger son, Evan, return with his new wife to bring up the boy.
Devastated by the loss of his wife and baby, Chester had trudged the length and breadth of the outback for ten years before he found himself in Coober Pedy. He was taken in by Hector, Wally’s father, who had fallen out with his own son. Chester told the bloke his name was Dan, and acquired his nickname after his fabled run-in with a taipan. The older man taught ‘Dan’ everything he knew about mining, but what he couldn’t understand was why Dan never had any money.
That was easy. Dan kept enough to pay for his food and provisions, but everything else he earned went anonymously to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the Coober Pedy hospital. It was the only way he could make sense of losing his wife and son.
He had gone back to Hope Springs for the first time after having come across the old map and riddle when he was cleaning up his dugout one day. If there was as much treasure in that hole as the legend had him believe, he’d be able to donate enough money to the hospital for a whole new neonatal wing – which he would have named in Willa’s honour. It would have been her legacy.
Someone had started digging that shaft years ago – likely the surveyor – but it had been long forgotten and, at times, flooded. Perhaps Col and Muz’s tampering with the bores had helped to dry it out, the way they were messing with the water table.
Those two blokes were caught about twenty kilometres from the steam shovel with the hood up and cursing their luck. But, in return for giving evidence against their bosses – the new owners of Saxby Downs, who were stealing the water to increase their cattle stocks – the pair was given immunity, and months later Barnaby offered them jobs. After all, no one knew the bores as well as they did and they could do the maintenance twice as fast as anyone else.
Lawrence made a full recovery from his run-in with the western brown snake and returned to the station before the end of the week. Once there, he spent more time helping Molly around the house than out in the field. His agent insisted that it was important for him to stay alive, and Charlotte was very happy with that decision.
The children finished their week of mustering and decided it was one of the best adventures of their lives. Even Jacinta, who had to agree that finding the treasure was incredibly exciting – especially when Barnaby insisted they each keep an opal for themselves. Hayden and Larry hoped they’d get to visit Alice-Miranda and the others at home one of these years, but in the meantime, Alice-Miranda and Hayden planned to write to each other from boarding school. Millie had so many photographs she wasn’t sure which one to enter in the competition, but there was a particularly spectacular shot of two eagles flying into a pink sunset. Jacinta said she’d win purely because she’d captured the pterodactyls.
Evie was home much earlier than she’d anticipated and even got to meet her idol, Lawrence Ridley, the day before he left.
Several months later, once the old man had made a full recovery from his broken leg and sore head, Barnaby brought Dan to live at Hope Springs where he was reunited with Junie and the rest of his family. Hayden and Larry could hardly believe their luck at their grandfather being the legendary Taipan Dan. And better still, he could take them fossicking for opals.
Sprocket McGinty returned home to his dugout, where he completed the renovations and made a start on a whole new guest wing. After all, Hugh with Two promised to come back again soon and bring that kid with four and more.
blower a machine like a giant vacuum cleaner, used to suck opal dirt from underground into a pipe, up the shaft and into a waiting truck.
bore a method of bringing groundwater to the surface.
bore water groundwater that has been accessed by drilling a bore into underground water stores.
dugout a home formed by excavating into a rocky hillside.
Great Artesian Basin the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over 1,700,000 square kilometres. The basin provides the only source of fresh water through mu
ch of inland Australia.
mullock heap the piles of valueless dirt pulled out of mining shafts.
muster the process of gathering livestock together.
opal a precious, multicoloured gemstone found in many varieties.
pick a sharp tool used to dig out opal.
potch a form of non-precious opal that doesn’t contain gem colour.
reef a mythically high concentration of opal. Also called a vein.
seam a thin horizontal layer of opal. Opal is often found by miners by following a seam.
willy willy spiralling wind that collects dust.
windlass a winch used to haul opal dirt up out of a mine.
The Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones party
Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones
Only child, ten and a half years of age
Hugh Kennington-Jones
Alice-Miranda’s doting father
Millicent Jane
McLaughlin-McTavish-McNaughton-McGill
Alice-Miranda’s best friend and room mate
Jacinta Headlington-Bear
Friend
Lucas Nixon
Alice-Miranda’s cousin
Lawrence Ridley
Lucas’s father and Alice-Miranda’s uncle
The Lewis household
Barnaby Lewis
Co-owner of Hope Springs Station and friend of Hugh’s
Evie Lewis
Co-owner of Hope Springs Station and Barnaby’s wife
Hayden Lewis
Son of Barnaby and Evie
Illaria (Larry) Lewis
Daughter of Barnaby and Evie
Rusty
Lewis family dog
Molly Robinson
Alice-Miranda in the Outback Page 20
